We work in a different way to most rescue organisations, all of whom are doing a
fantastic job. You can't just pop along to Man's Best Friend and say 'I would like
that dog' and then take it home.

Why?There are lots of people who are prepared to give a good home to a rescue dog.
What some of them are finding, is that problems begin to show themselves after about
two to three weeks, (once the dog has its feet firmly under the table). At this
stage the new owners find that they have taken on someone else's dog with a problem.
The new owners are then having to either send the dog back to the rescue organisation
it came from, pass it on to someone else, or seek advice from a professional dog
trainer/behaviourist. Which inevitably can be costly. Although not all rescue dogs
are like this, a large percentage of them are. We go to great lengths to make sure
that all our rescue dogs are well suited to their new family, and that the family
is suitable for that particular dog before they go to their new home.

How Do We Do This? Well, when we bring a rescue dog into Man's Best Friend, we ask
the owner to fill in an in depth form, letting us know exactly what the dog is like,
including all the bad things. Does it like children? for example, and is it good
with other dogs? We need to know these things to enable us to find the right home
for the dog. Once the dog is in our system, we will evaluate it, sort out all the
behavioural problems should there be any, and then fully train the dog to quite a
high standard. When the dog has been fully assessed, and is trained it can then
be put up for adoption.

What Happens When I Ring Up For A Rescue Dog? Once someone rings up Man's Best Friend,
we look into their requirements very carefully, and match them with one of our rescue
dogs. Then we get down to the nitty gritty, we get together with the whole family,
including other dogs, and see how they get on. If it all goes well, we start training
the new owners with the dog, including some home visits, and allowing the new owners
to come along to Dog Training Classes, to assist with their training, and to help
them learn to handle their new dog in and around distractions. The dog will, when
it's the right time, (and we are all confident) go to its new home for an overnight
stay, this usually highlights any problems that may arise, and we are always at the
end of the phone (mobile) in case of any problem. If this is successful we then,
providing the training is going ok, start looking at the dog going to its new home
for a weekend stay.

When the dog finally goes to its new permanent home, its well aware of its surroundings,
it's used to its new owners that have now become its extended family. Its familiar
with the other family members and pets, and comfortable in its new environment, and
should settle in well. When all parties are happy with the progress, we sign the
dog over.

We carefully monitor the rescue dog all the way through the process.

How To Adopt A Dog From Man's Best Friend?The way that Man's Best Friend works can
take a few weeks and each rescue dog and its new owners are different. But the most
important thing here is that by the time the dog is re-homed, we are reasonably sure
that the dog is not going to end up back in rescue, and its new home is going to
be a permanent one, for life!

All these measures are in place to protect the new owners as much as the rescue dog.
It is a system that works well, and there are literally only a couple of dogs in
all the years we have been doing this, that have had to come back into rescue. All
our success stories can be seen in the Rescue Photo Album.

Will Man's Best Friend Ever Put A Dog Down?We endeavour to place all our rescue dogs
into a suitable home, however long it takes. We would never put a healthy dog down.
In all the years we have been rescuing dogs, we have only had to put one dog to
sleep. Unfortunately this particular dog was unstable, and a liability - it had
bitten its new owner on more than one occasion. After a period of 2 years, of concentrated
work, and effort, the sad decision had to be made, by the owners and Man's Best Friend.

Because of the extensive work that goes into each and every dog that comes into rescue
with Man's Best Friend, we can only help a small number of dogs at any one time.
Once we have sufficient funding, we will be able to attain suitable premises that
would house more rescue dogs than we can currently help.